Stocking



Aug. 7, 1951 R. E. THOMPSON STOCKING Filed May 5. 1949 FIG.

FIGS.

- 2 INVENTOR- OMPSON RALPH E. TH

dag

ATTORNE S.

FIG. 2.

Patented Aug. 7, 1951 s r rEs PATENT OFFICE STOCKING ,Ralph E. ThompsonBrookline,;Mass;,assignonto Scott '& 'William s,Incorporated, Laqfll ia, N; IL, a corporation;of-Massachusetts r ;Appli oation May.-5, 1949,SerialrN.o. 91A97 "3 Claims. 66 -180) This invention :relates tostocki igs and has a properly adjusted on" .the legsthejseamsoi' fullfashioned stockings and the mock seams of seamless stockings produce an attractive, and acceptable ,appearanoe'by relieving the roundnessat the backof the leg and providing a'linetending to accentuate straightness of the leg and slimness of the ankles. However, such a longseam or mock seam has the .grea t disadvantage of'becoming very unsightly whenever the stocking becomes twisted on the leg, a situation which can beavoided. only with.theeexercis ,Qtconside abl care. The mock seam.in searnless 'stockm SLTF furthermore, undesirable "in limiting lengthwise extensionof thestockingpreventing the stocking from being prqperlydrawn up so as to 'ifi neatly. around, the ankle.

In accordance, with thepresent invention there is provided., at the rear' ofastocking extending from the ,ankleto a point thereabove a relatively short reenforced vertical line with appropriateterminationat itsupperend- 'i'Thi m tains the advantages of the mock seam but with elimination of its disadvantages. This reenforcement, which may be referred to as a clock in view of its gcne lal istmilarity;tor'clocks provided atthe. sides of ,stockings relievesthe roundness of the back of the leg; provides a line accentuating the impression of straightness -01" the leg, and gives :riseeto -:.an :impression of slimness of the ankles. Desirably, this clock terminates short of thehemof a skirt of normal length and has itsatop .endaccentuated and.limited bya wider portion-which most desirablyis in the nature of-one :ormore arrowheads. 'or similar vertically elongatedareas. Because of its relatively short length, twisting of the stocking on the leg tends to-createno discernible deviation of the clock from extension along the leguunless such twisting is quite excessive and abnormal.

The general object of the present invention has to, do .with the'provision of such a clock or ornamental stripe and this and other objects relating particularly to details and dimensions will become apparent from the following description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

. lsur i zanlel vat nsh s st c in e bodyingihe clocks on ia wearer and illustrating particularly the relations between the clocksand the skirt and shoes;

Figure 2 ;is ,a fragmentary enlarged diagram showing the stitch arrangement involved at the Junct .o t e; arrowh d with th a stem of 1 21 cl qkaan Figures 3, Land-,5. are perspective views illustra nsqwr us t g .q ..clo =k wh c m b rmvided in accordance with the invention.

Referringfirstto Figure 1, therelareillustrated h rein at .-.4 ..shee seamle tockin s, de i bl of; nylon. andwhlch eigeept for the clocks which willbe described in greater detail, may beenelv co e tional u s wk n forexamnle,.a pre ntlynom na y-mad qnm eh n having, forv example, 400 needlesQand mayv have their, legs; plain knit or knit in special fashions, forty-example, in accordance with the disclosures of the patent torA lbert E. Page, Number.2,50l 353, datedMarch 21, 195.0, and theapplicatiori .oI Frank R. Page, Serial No. 50,55}, filed September 22,1948. The welts,- hee ls and toes of thestockings maybe. conventional, the heelsbeing either 10w or providedwith reenforcements in thefoljm of highspl-ices.

4 .In accordance .withthe I present invention such stockingsare provided with clockswhich, as illustrated in -;Fig.ure .1, comprise stem portions .,2; ar owhead 6, n 'ha n ti n tfi th a t w Which may be .so formed of. added yarn as ,to provide upyvard continuations of the heels or. the high splices above the heels. Thestem of the Q QC may. extend through the base and the high splice. Desirably the clocks are formed of yarns of such weightas to g-ivean appearance ofthe sam density. ,401 refera l a e densit than, the reenioreed areas of the heels. The m ha tract v resultsara secured if; th clo ks e o such eav ar as ost ndputi shatp and very definite contrast withthe adjacentgareas' Ofth e ea,f.ah1ti- As an example, good; results are vo ained, nethe lo orme f or .60-denier yarn in, a l5. denier stocking having a cin -yarn; o 5 den radde in e h splicetandheel. 7

e ah =th l le t sho ld erm n t .b qw ae em o th skir and.n ra lv u n inc bel w th he f lonsests s r iw qhiswom, With s si nltg ths;o th res nt h s h gmaa i that the clocks shouldektend upwardly abouti' to 8 inches from the bottom of the heel of the wearer when worn or, considering heels of the stockings, the tops of which generally come about 1 to 1%, inches above the bottom of the heel, the' clocks should extend from about 5% inches to 7 inches above the heel of the stocking when worn. With the stockings off the leg, of course, there is a somewhat greater extension of the clock to the extent of l to 1 inches more. As will be evident, the desirable length of the clock will vary with styles and it .will be appreciated that as styles in dress lengths change variations of clock lengths may be made accordingly. As indicated, they should, in general, terminate substantially below the hem of the skirt so as not to have their upper ends out off from sight when a flaring skirt is viewed looking downwardly at a reasonable distance from the wearer. They should terminate in the vicinity of the lower part of the calf of the stocking, preferably no higher than its lower end.

The stems, such as 2, of the clocks may vary in width and it has been found that a stem three wales wide is quite effective and attractive. The stems, however, may be thicker, for example,

up to a width of as much as inch. They may also be as thin as a single wale.

The arrowheads or other widened terminating structures may vary considerably, for example, through a range of 9 to 17 wales in width. Generally speaking, the best appearances are secured if the termination is in the form of one or more vertically elongated arrowheads, diamonds or the like.

If a base 8 is provided this may have an overall width running upwardly from the ranges of width given for the arrowheads. This base may be omitted altogether or may be constituted by the ordinary tapered or untapered high splice.

' The clock may be produced by wrapping in various ways well known in the art. A wrap yarn may be provided to form the clock from a wrap finger capable of producing panel wrapping in the usual fashion. Alternatively, the clocking yarn may be provided from an auxiliary finger located at the main feed, being taken only by needles which are selectively raised thereat under the control of pattern mechanism which will determine the needles raised and hence the width of the wrapped panel. The floats, such as indicated at It] in Figure 2, may be permitted to remain, as they would generally in the narrow portions of the clock, but they may be cut out where they occur across the wider portions of the clocks, such as arrowheads, or the like. Generally, however, they will be sufficiently short as not to require removal.

Figures 3, 4 and 5 show examples of various alternative forms of clocks. In Figure 3 the stem I4 of a clock in stocking I2 is surmounted by an arrowhead i6 and is joined to the reenforcement of the heel through base indicated at I8. This figure illustrates the relationship of the clock to the hemline of a relatively long skirt.

In Figure 4 a clock of stocking 22 comprises a stem 24 surmounted by a pair of arrowheads 26 with the inclusion on the stem of a diamond enlargement 28. In this case the stem extends through a high splice indicated at 30 forming an upward continuation of the heel reenforcement 32. Figure 4 shows a skirt of intermediate length.

In Figure 5 the stocking 34 carries a clock having a stem 36, upper arrowhead 38 and lower arrowhead 40 which is spaced at 42 from the heel 44. If such an arrangement is used the arrowhead 40 should, of course, terminate above the normal upper edge of the shoe. In the cases previously considered it is desirable that the enlarged base at the bottom of the arrowhead should extend above the shoe edge. However, this is not necessarily the case and the narrow stem itself may well project alone from the upper edge of the shoe. Figure 5 shows a relatively short skirt and, of course, in stockings designed for such skirt length the clock may be carried further up ward than illustrated. Desirably, however, the upper end of the clock terminates not substantially higher than the point where the calf bulges above the ankle.

In all of the cases illustrated, which will readily suggest more or less elaborate modifications of the appearance of the clock, the objectives of the invention are attained as set forth above.

What is claimed is:

1. A sheer stocking of seamless type having a clock formed by the inclusion of a yarn substan tially heavier than the leg yarn in stitches of the leg, said clock extending upwardly through the central portion of the back of the stocking from a point adjacent to the heel to terminate at a point in the vicinity of the lower part of the call, said clock through the major portion of its length comprising a narrow, straight stem of not more than one-quarter inch width.

2. A sheer stocking of seamless type having a clock formed by the inclusion of a yarn substantially heavier than the leg yarn in stitches of the leg, said clock extending upwardly through the central portion of the back of the stocking from a point adjacent to the heel to terminate at a point in the vicinity of the lower part of the calf, said clock through the major portion of its length comprising a narrow, straight stem of not more than one quarter inch width having an enlargement in the upper end thereof.

3. A sheer stocking of seamless type having a clock formed by the inclusion of a yarn substantially heavier than the leg yarn in stitches of the leg, said clock extending upwardly through the central portion of the back of the stocking from a point adjacent to the heel to terminate at a point in the vicinity of the lower part of the calf, said clock through the major portion of its length comprising a narrow, straight stem approximately three wales wide.

RALPH E. THOMPSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of, record in the file of this patent;

UNITED STATES PATENTS Largman Mar. 14, 1950 

